US Strategy to Fight Daesh Proven to Be Fully Inefficient: Moscow

MOSCOW – Numerous “chronic mistakes” of the US planes, such as strikes against civilian objects, and the lack of humanitarian aid led to a humanitarian catastrophe in Syria’s Raqqa, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov has said, according to Sputnik.

“We are registering a humanitarian catastrophe in Raqqa (and in Mosul before this), caused by the lack of urgent measures to deliver humanitarian aid and to create corridors to evacuate civilians, not to mention  the multiple ‘chronic’ mistakes of the US planes, including strikes on civilian objects,” he told RIA Novosti.

 The official added that the US strategy to fight Daesh had proven to be fully inefficient.

“We are pointing out to Washington the complete inefficiency of US anti-ISIL [Daesh] strategy,” he told RIA Novosti.

According to the minister, the Russian side has been deflecting and will deflect the US attempts to hamper the eradication of the terrorist hotbed in Syria.

“In this context, we will continue to emphasize extremely clear that we have harshly deflected and will continue to deflect the US attempts to hinder the quick and final elimination of the terrorist hotbed in Syria and slow down the offensive of the Syrian government troops,” he told RIA Novosti.

Moreover, the Russian minister also slammed as absurd “the situation where an external force which is in Syria illegally, without the permission of the Syrian government, starts defining geographical boundaries for the actions of the Syrian army which is carrying out the operation to liberate its own country of terrorists.”

“The command of the Russian group in Syria has notified its US partners in advance regarding the borders of its operation in Deir ez-Zor against the Islamic State [Daesh], Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov has said.

“The dialogue is maintained on the level of military experts. In particular, the command of the Russian group in Syria notified via a special channel of communications its US partners regarding the borders of the anti-ISIL [Daesh] operation in Deir ez-Zor,” he told RIA Novosti.

Thus, it seems that the United States simply wants to prevent the Syrian government troops from defeating Daesh, Syromolotov added.

“It seems as if our US partners simply do not want to allow the defeat of ISIL [Daesh] by government forces acting with support of the Russian Aerospace Forces,” he told RIA Novosti.

According to the Russian diplomat, the situation when the external force present on the Syrian territory without the consent of the Syrian government starts to determine the geographical scope for the actions of the Syrian army, which is carrying out an operation to liberate its own country from terrorists, is absurd.

“We openly tell our US partners: we are offering you coordination and cooperation in the fight against terrorists in Syria but you refuse. Who wins? IS,” Syromolotov stressed.

Russian Sappers to Remove Mines from Up to 1,500 Hectares of Land in Syria’s Deir Ezzor

Russian sappers have begun clearing bombs planted by ousted terrorists around the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor in order to allow relief supplies to get in, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.

“Experts from the International Mine Action Center are focusing primarily on removing landmines from roads leading to the city’s social infrastructure, hospitals, water and electric facilities,” the statement read.

The military said engineer reconnaissance and bomb squads were removing roadside bombs in and around the recaptured city, using a variety of specialist equipment, to make the passage safe for humanitarian convoys.

“A contingent of over 170 personnel of Russia’s International Mine Action Center, 40 special-purpose and engineering vehicles, and 10 mine-sweeping teams has been deployed to Syria,” the ministry said.

The preliminary estimate is that Russian experts will have to remove explosive devices from up to 1,500 hectares (1,200 acres) of territory around the city of Deir ez-Zor.

Over the first few days after their arrival, sappers carried out controlled detonation of 1,500 “explosive objects,” including a hundred improvised explosive devices, demining 8 kilometers (5 miles) of roads, eight buildings and 3 hectares (7.4 acres) of land.

Russia’s Defense Ministry Regards UK Efforts in Fight against ISIS as ‘Insignificant’

The Russian Defense Ministry regards efforts applied by the UK against the Islamic State (IS, a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) as “insignificant,” the ministry’s Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Friday in response to statements made by UK Secretary of State for Defense Michael Fallon.

Fallon earlier claimed in an interview with UK Defence that “Britain has made a major contribution to the campaign that has crippled Daesh since 2014.

“While the Syrian forces, supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces, were fighting to defeat the ISIS (the former name for IS – TASS) in Syria, it suddenly emerged that during all these years UK Secretary of State for Defense Michael Fallon has been helping us destroy terrorists behind our backs,” Konashenkov stated.

In light of this, the major general questioned what the British Armed Forces were doing when the ISIS swallowed up huge areas in Syria and Iraq

 “The British secretary of state for defense reported himself that the Royal Air Force has carried about 1,500 strikes on the ISIS in Iraq and Syria since 2014. At the same time, the Russian Aerospace Forces carried more than 99,000 precision strikes confirmed by data recorders over terrorists in Syria alone, which led to a strategic upset in the fight against the ISIS,” the spokesman said.

“If Britain’s contribution to the fight against the ISIS may be called ‘inestimable,’ it is not because of the wide range of efforts, but because of their insignificance,” Konashenkov concluded.

H.M